Iranian Progressives in Translation

This site is devoted to publishing English translations of statements or articles by progressive Iranian thinkers and activists who may not be widely known internationally but offer important ideas. Those who wish to reprint these translations may do so provided they cite the original Persian source and the name and address of this blog.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Yassin al-Haj Saleh is a leading Syrian intellectual and
former political prisoner who participated in the Syrian Revolution from its
beginning in March 2011.Since October 2013
he has been forced into exile in Turkey where he continues to write and
speak out in defense of the aspirations of that revolution. He contributes to
several Arab newspapers including Al Hayat and is the author of several
books in Arabic, including:Syria in the Shadow: Glimpses Inside the Black Box(2009), Walking on One Foot (2011), a
collection of 52 essays written between 2006 and 2010, Salvation O Boys: 16 Years in Syrian Prisons (2012), The Myths of the Successors: A Critique of Contemporary Islam and a
Critique of the Critique (2012).He is the
editor of Deliverance or Destruction?Syria
at a Crossroads(2014). In
2012 he was granted the Prince Claus Award as “a tribute to the Syrian people
and the Syrian revolution”. However, he
was not able to collect the award, as he was living in hiding in Damascus.Below is an interview which Frieda Afary, the
producer of Iranian Progressives in Translation, conducted with him in
English and via e-mail. This interview
and Afary’s Persian translation of it were originally published on May 29, 2015 by Zamaneh,
a Persian-language human rights radio station and website basedin Amsterdam.The Persian translation can be found at http://www.radiozamaneh.com/221018

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Translator’s Note:The following joint resolution by seven independent Iranian labor unions
and organizations has been issued amidst a growing wave of strikes by workers,
protests by teachers and nurses, and arrests of union leaders.The resolution specifically targets “the
capitalist system which rules Iran
…cannot and does not want to put an end to the existing unbearable situation.”The resolution further opposes discrimination
against women, ethnic, national, religious minorities and Afghan migrant workers.
In conclusion, it states:“We condemn the escalating war and killings
in the Middle East region.In our view, this horrible situation, the
unprecedented rise of terrorist organizations and the policies of terror in the
countries of the region are caused by the dead end which capitalist relations
have reached in their failure to satisfy the needs of human beings today, and
by the anti-human policies of western and regional governments.”The original Persian text can be found at http://www.etehadeh.com/?page=news&nid=4333This translation will be published in the
Bulletin of the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

The urgent need to combat
the onslaught of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), and the fact that the Kurds are being seen as
a democratic bulwark against ISIL, has led to some important debates among
Iranians.These debates concern the
struggles of the Middle East region’s Kurdish
national minority and Kurdish women in particular.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Nancy Fraser’s recent article, “How Feminism Became Capitalism’s
Handmaiden and How to Reclaim It” has led to some interesting
discussions among Iranian women and men inside Iran and in exile. In
her article, Fraser argues that the second wave of feminism has
abandoned its original ideal of social justice and has been co-opted by
capitalist careerism.

Monday, November 25, 2013

With the latest nuclear agreement between the Iranian government and six
world powers, which reduces the threat of foreign military intervention
and lightens severe sanctions, Iranians can now focus on their
country’s internal problems. At the same time, the Rouhani
administration’s latest executions of ethnic minority prisoners reveal
that the regime wishes to stir up hatred against national minorities to
deflect attention from Iran’s deep class, gender and ethnic inequities.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Mohammad Nourizad and Mohsen Makhmalbaf are both filmmakers. Both were active supporters of the Iranian regime but later turned against the regime and became ardent advocates of human rights. Now they have openly broken with another feature of their past: prejudice against religious minorities.

About Me

I am an Iranian American librarian and translator. My education includes a bachelor's degree in history, a master's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in library science. Translations from this blog can be reprinted provided the original Persian source and the name and address of this blog are cited. I can also be contacted at fafarysecond[at]yahoo.com